Austin and back again....

We left Friday late afternoon to head to Austin for the weekend. Ali's good friend, Sierra, joined us. Her parents weren't going to Austin, so she went with us. She wanted to swim in the meet also.

Saturday morning we headed out to the UT pool so that the girls could warm up. We were so surprised at how nice the natatorium was! They must have a great team there at the university. I know Michael Phelps set records there, as did Aaron Peirsol. Ali thought that was very cool. As most young swimmers think Michael Phelps is the the coolest thing since sliced bread these days. Ha! You can even buy swim caps with Michael Phelps name on them. In Ali's words, "that is too cool." Ummm, if you say so.

Ali improved all of her times this weekend. (we aren't headed to the Olympics...but she is at least improving!) In T.C.'s words, "I think we need to be focusing on academic scholarships..." Hahaha! But, in her defense...she has only be at this swimming gig for a little over a year now. She has a LOT of arms and legs to learn to maneuver, once she gets that down pat...her height will be to her advantage. They say slow and steady wins the race...just not in swimming. I'm kidding, we were proud of her! At this age, she is much more interested in her social life in between each event. (she can talk A LOT!) Ha! She loved swimming in such a nice pool...she wishes there were meets there more often. However, our wallets do not.

We took the kids to the TX State Capitol and museum after the meet on Saturday. We took a tour of the capitol and then went to the museum in another building. It is beautiful. The kids really enjoyed the museum, so much so that they wanted to go back for a few minutes on Sunday....so we did.

Well, the bat viewing ended up being a total flop. In great Judd fashion...we showed up....waited for an hour (with hundreds of other people)...we waited...and waited...just knowing the wait would all be worth it. So an hour later, after we had only seen MAYBE 20 bats total...we decided to leave. (along with everyone else!) We gave it the ole' college try! The kids enjoyed it though. It was right on the river, and we were able to watch a great fireworks display right across from where we were. Let me back up, as I can't remember if I mentioned this in my last post. During the summer, you can watch thousands of bats fly out from underneath a bridge on the river. We were a little late in the season, but sometimes you are lucky enough to catch quite a few flying around. (we were not...haha) You can read about it at this site http://www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=122

We are in the middle of shampooing our carpets...so I better get downstairs and help! Enjoy some pictures from our weekend.